How to go through this game?

Hey so I played the original Dogma on PS3, couldn't stand the framerate so I got rid of the game, then picked up Dark Arisen on 360 a couple weeks ago because the framerate holds up much better and I'm enjoying it well enough. The problems I'm having is with the difficulty level, I'm playing on normal and I currently have the quest early on to go help some soldiers siege a castle, they don't give me a path to get there so I just figured I'd walk straight through to the mountain and try to work my way through, which is where I found the old quarry, inside is what I think is two of those trolls or giants or something and every time I try to fight one it takes 15-20 minutes just to whittle him down to low heatlh and I die every time because hit attacks almost one hit me.

I don't know my level off the top of my head but I believe it's around 15. This is a really frustrating experience because it doesn't tell me where to go and if I go in the wrong direction I seem to just get punished for it and end up having to walk back int he other direction for another 20 minutes of walking, I don't know I guess my question is what am I doing wrong, am I missing something or just what should I be doing differently, I haven't done any side quests because they all seem absolutely horrible so I wanted to just focus on the main quest.

EDIT: Forgot to mention I am using boons and such, I play the default warrior type class with sword and board and I have a two hander warrior, a mage and an archer for pawns. I have also been having a lot of trouble with Pawns doing useful things, when I throw oil at a troll my mage just casts some stupid crap to imbue my weapon with lightning or something instead of fire or using a fire spell to ignite him, stuff like this has also been making things unenjoyable so any advice there would be great.

Nope, not missing anything, the game is just pretty damn punishing early on. It also doesn't do too much handholding, so you'll never know if an area is beyond your means until you actually jump into it. The quarry you're running into actually has 3 Ogres. It's a tough place to go through, even at a higher level. My advice would be to try and take the long way: Head back on the main road toward the Encampment and take the right on the dirt road just before you reach it. It'll take you up a hill and into a clearing and then from there you should have a little bit of an easier time.

As for pawn stuff, you kind of have to train them to do the things you want. If you want them to cast fire on an oiled target, you might need to do it yourself a few times with them to get them to learn that. It's another thing the game doesn't really touch upon. If you want your pawn to be useful, you really don't want to use any commands other than "Go!", else they tend to just babysit you and do nothing. When you're looking for pawns in the Rift, look for ones that have inclinations you're looking for and avoid Nexus and Guardian ones as those are the ones where they'll focus on protecting you/your pawns in the party.

As for dealing with Ogres, my advice would be to keep female pawns out of your party, or take 1 female Warrior. Ogres are attracted to females in the base game meaning they'll go after them more often then males. If you can manage it, jump up on them and attack either their head or the top of their backs. If your mage pawn has fire boon, you can throw oil and activate the oil that way.

If you're still having trouble you might want to look into sidequests. They can disappear if you progress too far into the main game, and they provide pretty valuable gold/XP and even items some times. Dragon's Dogma is a game you really have to let take a hold of you. It's a big, daunting, challenging adventure and you really have to want that adventure to get anything resembling a good time out of it, at least from my experience.

Another final tip, if you're having trouble with your current class, feel free to switch to a different one at any time at the Inn. It will cost you discipline points and also make you change up your gear, but it could provide you with a well needed strategy change. Good luck!

You need to do side stuff and explore. If you try to beeline the main quest on your first playthrough then you'll be constantly hitting these walls. The game has static creature levels in certain areas - something that hearkens back to old days of RPG's where everything didn't scale neatly to your level. If you're too low level to fight the cyclops, then they will very quickly mess you up. My advice is walk around, explore, kill bandits and level up before taking on the main quest. All the sidejobs send you to a location in the world where you either have to retrieve an item or kill someone - some of them are pretty fun and in the case of a certain tome, they might help you out later down the road.

Not to sound like a jerk but if you don't enjoy anything about running around in the world, or doing sidequests, then you might as well just quit because that is essentially the entire game. The fun is gained through exploration and combat - the story is serviceable at best from beginning to the end, only getting really great in the very end game.

@bishop113: The game really wants you to do side stuff to level up, I did the quest you are on just yesterday and I was level 25 or so after finishing it. You can also sort of cheese the game by having pawns that are 5-10 levels higher than you depending on the amount of RC you have. Head to the Rift and pick up a few higher level pawns, don't be afraid to spend your RC to get through stuff.

Dark Arisen is meant for high level players, just stick with the main game till things get REALLY weird and when that happens you should be ok to go.

Also a tip for what pawns to get, the inclinations are actually very important. They dictate their AI. Avoid any pawns with "Guardian" as one of their inclinations. It basically makes them do almost nothing and stick really close to your dude instead of doing useful stuff.

Do more side quests. Those trolls are nasty early on. Level yourself up through side quests before taking on the main quests. A couple tips -

Enemies in this game do not scale to your level. Some areas are just a lot harder than others. You will likely encounter enemies in this game that are too difficult for you to beat. Often your best bet is just to run and come back later. Enemies in dungeons don't respawn, so once you kill those ogres they are dead for good.

Speaking of dungeons, don't be afraid to do them in parts. Keep a portcrystal handy and lay it down outside of every dungeon you go in. Then when you have exhausted your resources in the dungeon teleport back to town, level up, restock, hire new pawns and teleport back. It sometimes took me two or three journeys to clear out a dungeon. Be patient.

There are I believe a half dozen notice boards in the game. Make sure to pick up every quest on every one other than the escort quests which you find on the boards at the inns in Gran Soren and your home town. The vast majority of these quests simply involve killing X number of enemies. Outside of the one for killing rabbits you are going to be killing these enemies anyways so just pick up the quests and you'll finish all of them as you go on. And with each success you get money and experience.

Pawns are key in this game. Using the right pawns in the right situations makes all the difference. In addition to their core abilities, make sure to choose a pawn familiar with the quest you are on. They'll have some symbol by their name I don't remember right now to let you know that. A pawn isn't going to know out of the gate how to defeat a troll. But if the pawn has completed the quest already then he or she will know that fact.

Another thing which isn't made super clear is that you have separate vocation levels in addition to your overall level. Each vocation has unique perks that you can buy when you hit a certain level in that vocation. Once you buy these perks you can use them even if you switch your vocation later. So I would suggest doing various side quests with different vocations to unlock their individual perks. For example, some of the stanima perks related to archery are super valuable for every class in the game, as is their perk for taking less damage when falling from high heights. Warrior perks often increase your health or lower the damage you take, while many mage perks will lower the damage you take from spells or certain elements. Mix and mach these abilities to improve the class you want. If you are playing a tank getting increased stanima and magic defense can mean the difference between life and death. You may have to play a class you don't enjoy as much but it is worth it.

Finally, let me mention that the specific quest you are on is the most difficult quest in the game I have yet faced. The trolls are nothing compared to the ridiculous battle ahead. If a troll can take you out in one hit you are not ready for this quest. You need to go do side quests for another 5 to 10 levels and you should spend many of those levels as other classes.

@hh: For the pressure pads you can stand on them with your pawns and they work, but after that the merchant guy that gives you a quest outside of the quarry will ask you to clear out the dungeon which is why I was trying to kill the ogres.

@clonedzero: I didn't even know about pawn inclination, thanks a bunch for that.